The Comings and Goings of Netflix This July

Blink and you’ll miss them! Movies come and go from Netflix so quickly these days, but as always there is a brand-new crop of movies to discover – or re-discover as the case may be. Let’s take a dive into the comings and goings of July to see what you’ll be watching this month.

Leaving: The Conspiracy (Leaving July 1) | Arriving: The Invitation (Arriving July 8)

Replacing mockumentary horror The Conspiracy is Karyn Kusama’s The Invitation, a claustrophobic horror-thriller about a dinner party that begins to unravel in sinister directions. It’s a tightly-wound film that fans of low key horror ought to check out immediately.

Leaving: How to Marry a Millionaire (Leaving July 1) | Arriving: Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (Arriving July 1)

Isn’t it nice of Netflix to replace one Marilyn Monroe with another, even better Marilyn Monroe film? If you have avoided the works of Monroe out of some incorrect belief that she wasn’t a good actress, then you really have to watch the delightfully camp Gentlemen Before Blondes, with its famous costumes and even more famous songs – “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend”, anyone? This film of scheming beauties on the high seas holds up over 60 years later thanks to Monroe and her co-star Jane Russell’s perfect chemistry, the script’s over-the-top laughs, and, yes, those iconic costumes and songs that have been emulated from Madonna to the Moulin Rouge.

Leaving: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (July 1) | Arriving: The Sting (July 1)

First Marilyn got replaced by herself, and now both Robert Redford and Paul Newman have, too. As Butch Cassidy, the classic western of bank-robbers fleeing to Bolivia that won four Oscars, leaves, we get the arguably even better The Sting, about a pair of con-men and grifters who seek revenge on a mob boss. That one won seven Oscars — including Best Picture — but it’s all a matter of taste as to which you prefer. Personally, I prefer the ‘30s style and swagger, and I also kinda hate “Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head”.

Leaving: The Central Park Five (Leaving July 1) | Arriving: The Armor of Light (Arriving July 7)

From one documentary about the injustices committed against the black community to another. The case of “The Central Park Five” is famous for being so royally bungled by detectives who saw a group of black kids and wanted them put in jail even if it was for a crime they didn’t commit. The Armor of Light is not as good as Ken and Sarah Burns’ The Central Park Five, but Abigail Disney’s doco does put focus on another terrible crime wherein a young black man was shot and killed in Florida for playing his music too loud. His killer pleaded not guilty due to the state’s ridiculous “Stand Your Ground” laws, leading to the efforts of a minister to bring about gun reform. Heartbreaking stuff all ‘round.

Leaving: The Quiet Man (Leaving July 1) | Arriving: Working Girl (Arriving July 1)

John Ford won his fourth and final Academy Award for Direction for his work on this sporting romantic comedy, but since it’s leaving why not watch another surprisingly smart comedy from another great filmmaker? In this case it’s Mike Nichols and the film is Working Girl, an office comedy of mistaken identity starring Melanie Griffith, Harrison Ford, Joan Cusack, and some of the most hilariously-’80s costumes you will ever see.

Leaving: A League of Their Own (Leaving July 1) | Arriving: Mustang (Arriving July 9)

American baseball in the 1940s and familial angst in modern day Turkey might not appear to have much in common, but these two great films are essentially about the necessity for female friendship through thick and thin. Mustang, an Oscar nominee just this year for Best Foreign Language Film, follows a family of sisters as they are first punished for acting lascivious around boys from school and then married off one-by-one before the youngest sister takes matters into her own hands. It’s extraordinary filmmaking from first-time feature director Deniz Gamze Erguven and a must-see for anybody interested in complex portrayals of family and womanhood.

Leaving: Witness (Leaving July 1) | Arriving: A War (Arriving July 7)

Another of this year’s Foreign Language Film Oscar nominees, Danish filmmaker Tobias Lindholm’s A War examines a commander who must take drastic action for the soldiers under his command while stationed in an Afghan province. It’s a worthy replacement for the slick Hollywood thrills of Peter Weir’s Witness, featuring Harrison Ford as a detective who must go undercover in Amish country to protect a witness.

Leaving: A Perfect Storm (Leaving July 1) | Arriving: The Wave (Arriving July 27)

You sadly have to wait until the end of the month to watch The Wave, but it’s a worthwhile watch, especially considering the George Clooney/Mark Wahlberg survival drama hasn’t aged all that well. The Wave is a Norwegian disaster movie that has enough destruction and mayhem to satisfy Hollywood action fans, and yet enough idiosyncrasies to set it apart from the mainstream.

Here is the full list of movies leaving Netflix in July: